I'm baaaaaackkkkk...

Yeah bitches I am back.. so sorry to be gone.. A little thing like life can get in the way sometimes.LOL..

So I was thinking a bit about humor and my job and how most of us use it to survive/ cope with what we do, or use it to help our patients get better.

Nursing is a stressful profession, and I work in the ICU, which can really ramp up the stress, sometimes you either laugh or your cry.. I choose to laugh. It's called  gallows humor, and to an outsider seems highly inappropriate, but to those of us in the field it is a coping mechanism and stress reliever. I have participated in several codes ( or cardiac arrests) and inevitably at one point someone gets the giggles.. or something is said that gets misconstrued and leads to laughing.  No we are not laughing about the poor soul we are trying to save... and no we are not focusing less on the patient... we are coping with the stress of the situation establishing a bit of a disconnect because if you let every code/death get to you deeply you will not last in this profession.  We, as health care professionals, get it.. but we sometimes forget others don't.  Also conversations at the nurses stations can go from the innocent to the very risqué.. as from my observations, most of us have seen, or heard it all so nothing is truly taboo. LOL.. I work nights so it generally gets even worse because of fewer visitors.

The ability to laugh.. to find humor in the most stressful of situations I think is a wonderful way to dissipate the stress. I know I often try to use humor to help my co-workers if they are having a bad night.  Think about it.. if a pt has made you so frustrated you can't see straight.. you get away and have a good laugh.. you can go back in a bit more refreshed and better able to cope with the asshole.  I can tell a big difference at work when I work with  a crew that supports each other and encourages silliness and laughter vs one that doesn't .. guess who I prefer to work with LOL.

My private goal is to make at least one person laugh a day. If it is at me.. or at themselves or someone else.. I want to see them laugh. A good laugh can completely turn your day around, change your outlook, and give a small bright spot in a very bad day. The release of endorphins from fun and laughter and play does so many good things for your mood, better than any medication can.

I try this with my patients as well. I introduce myself with a smile and try to encourage fun banter.  This can be tricky for me as the filter on my mouth doesn't work so well but I manage most of the time LOL. In my experience the better the attitude the faster the healing. It is such a pleasure to take care of patients that are realistic and fun. And those that can find the humor seem to overall do better, and I know they get better care simply because they are a pleasure to be around and  and you don't mind going in and taking care of them.

On the other hand the grumpy Gus that wants to be surly and hate the world tends to not do as well, requires more pain medication, and can drive the nurses batty because they are too miserable to be around, heck sometimes they don't even want to be in their own skin. On the occasions that I have cracked that shell and developed a rapport with a patient like that the feeling is wonderful. Nursing is more than taking care of the body, it is taking care of the mind and soul too.

 We all go through periods of burn out, it's how we get ourselves out of it that dictates the kind of nurse we are.  I want to be known at " that funny one that took such good care of me".  I want to be the co-worker that people want to work with because it will make it a fun night.

My younger years were rough, and I managed to not show it on the outside but I paid the price on the inside. I want to spend the rest of my life laughing and enjoying myself.. and bringing others with me laughing. For the first time in my life I am happy with who I am as a person, my beliefs and values, and don't give a flying fuck what anyone else thinks of me.  Come on everyone .. laugh with me.. or AT me.. Hell I don't care LOL!!